The Halo That Would Not Light (Poetry Response 5)

This poem I would have to say is very depressing, not really a suprise, but also very good. I like the way the author makes everything so visual, and I love it. The whole entire poem I think is a metaphor for something. The title being that the halo would not light, and the poem being about death or sadness where there really is not light, or they cannot see the light. This poem was probably the best poem in our packet and I am really excited to present this to the class. I have a feeling this poem is about some type of abuse. First you have the raptor who is like the monstor who is unleashes upon them, and you know that he is not going to do any good. Then the author talks about the child and the raptor coming after that said child. These are just my thoughts on the poem, I do not quite understand the whole thing quite yet, but I think that the more I read and think about it the more I will begin to understand the poem. The way the author uses so many visual pieces that you can connect to is just awesome, and can't wait for what the class has to say about the poem.

Beginning Again bb Franz Wright (Poetry Response 4)

When reading the poem "Beginning Again", I could not quite understand what the author is getting at with the poem. I thought the poem was about beginning, but that is not the vibe I got from the poem, I actually don't know what vibe I got, but it wasn't beginning. Even though I did fully quite understand the poem, I do believe that the poet was trying to say something very meaningful, like most poets do... :) Even though I do not quite understand the poem I do kind of like it. The words and style of writing he uses is very interesting. Me favorite line throughout the poem is the whole entire first stanza. I think what the first stanza is trying to say is that the man does not have an illness, but is maybe annoyed with the world and sick of all the talking, and if he didn't talk there would be nothing to worry about. And what I think about when he mentions the man performing brain surgery is just the man thinking, thinking, and over thinking things. Picking and proding at certain things mentally, not literally performing brain surgery. Other than the first stanza the rest of the poem does not really make since. I just don't think that th poem flows really well together, I am probably incorrect but it seems like after the first stanza he starts talking about a totally different thing than in the first stanza. I like this poem, I just don;t know how to interpret the poem and can't wait to hear other peoples thought on the peom in class when presented.

To Myself by W.S. Merwin (Poetry Response 3)

To Myself

Even when I forget you
I go on looking for you
I believe I would know you
I keep remembering you
sometimes long ago but then
other timesI am sure you
were her a moment before
and the air is still alive
around where you were and I
think then i can recognize
you who are always the same
who pretend to be time but
you are not time and who speak
in the words but you are not
what they say you who are not
lost when I do not find you

-W.S. Merwin

When I first read this poem, just the beginning part I believed that this was someone trying to find their true selves and their true potential. Now that I have read it once I believe that it is not talking about someone finding themselves, but someone losing someone, a close friend, relative, etc. I enjoyed reading this poem and I actually can connect to this poem, i think everyboody can who has lost a loved one.
Towards the end of the poem, I think is where all the pieces of the poem fit into place. I feel that the end of the poem. Which to understand you have to read carefully cause the words kind of pile together reading it the first few times. The end of the poem explains the lost of a loved one more clearly. Talking about the person in detail, waiting for them to show up, but they never do.
Out of all the poetry responses we have done, this poem was my favorite. It made you think analytically about the poem was actually saying. It also brought up memories of a lost loved one, which makes you think of the loved one, of how you knew them well, but will never see them again.

Still Memory by Mary Karr (Poetry Response 2)

Still Memory
The dream was so deep
the bed came unroped from its moorings,
drifted upstream till it found my old notch

in the house I grew up in,
then it locked in place.
A light in the hall—

my father in the doorway, not dead,
just home from the graveyard shift
smelling of crude oil and solvent.

In the kitchen, Mother rummages through silver
while the boiled water poured
in the battered old drip pot

unleashes coffee’s smoky odor.
Outside, the mimosa fronds, closed all night,
open their narrow valleys for dew.

Around us, the town is just growing animate,
its pulleys and levers set in motion.
My house starts to throb in its old socket.

My twelve-year-old sister steps fast
because the bathroom tiles
are cold and we have no heat other

than what our bodies can carry.
My parents are not yet born each
into a small urn of ash.

My ten-year-old hand reaches
for a pen to record it all
as would become long habit.

—Mary Karr

This poem by Mary Karr is a very good and interesting poem. Even though I have read in multiple times I do not quite understand the whole poem yet. Why does she mention it as a dream not, even though the title is called a Still Memory. What I though that was interesting about this poem was that even though the poem is called Still Memory there is actually a lot going on thorughout the poem and around the author. These were my first thoughts when I first read the poem.
Then as I contibnued reading and thinking deeply I noticed that the title of the poem is called Still Memory because the narrator of the poem is the one being still, while everthing else is moving on around her. The author does a good job with this peom and I actually enjoyed it more as i started thinking more about the poem and the meaning around the words. Even though the meaning of the poem is pretty obvious it is still a good poem because it makes me think of my own personal memories. I also liked the writing structure of the piece because it is a unique way of describing a memory with interesting word choice.
I enjoyed this poem more than I thought I would, and I am kind of liking poetry more now that I am starting to understand it better, but still dreading about having to write poetry. :)